At one point, I was loading multiple puzzles all the time and it was killing my solving percentage. It turned out that it was my mouse. (Thanks to my baby dropping it a few times too many). A new mouse solved that problem!

I'm not a 100% solver, I don't have what it takes. BUT I think my percentage would be a bit higher except for this problem or that one: confused: . There always seems to be something. I feel like I'm always complaining about this add or that one that slows me down. I've decided to grin and bear it.

It's not nearly as frustrating for me, because I'm never close to 100%. I didn't realize that DSL was slow. I hope it gets better for you.

The speed of DSL depends largely on how close to a "hub" you are. I have DSL, but I'm quite close to one. If you live someplace where the lines go through woods or high terrain, you're much more apt to have disturbances in delivery due to high winds, tree limbs, and critters. My DSL has always been reliable and fairly fast. I wish it could be that way for everyone.

I thought I'd add my observations as someone who has only been around here for about six months, and has investigated this anomaly a little on my own.

For one thing, I've never experienced a "ghost crypto" occurrence while I was not active on the site. Perhaps this is unique to me, but I wouldn't worry too much about ghosts showing up while you're not here.

Secondly, while the frequency of they show up may somehow be related to internet connectivity, I have seen ghosts occur even at times when I would describe my connection as perfect.

Lastly, as of yet, I have not found any relationship between the circumstances that trigger a ghost. Obviously, it's difficult to nail down exact circumstances since one is not immediately aware of a ghost's existence. One idea I have, is that it is caused by something on cryptograms.org's end, that we all experience if we happen to be playing at the time, but we'd need the admin to comb through the data to prove it, and it still wouldn't solve the problem.

The bottom line is that if you check your Recent Games link every two hours while you're playing and before you log off, you should be able to bust all of your ghosts and keep your 100% record.

i'd be frustrated, too. is this a recent move that has led to the problem? (and are you planning a move asap?!)

It is recent only in that DSL has just become available at all recently. I'm at the end of the line apparently. My connection is slow at times when lots of others are on such as after school/work in the afternoon, in the mornings, just after the evening meal etc.
I've been trying to be extremely careful about checking "recent games" before, during and after play, but have still had failures added to my score though I've solved all of the puzzles.
I am planning to move as soon as I win the lottery. Today hopefully!!!